Oklahoma House Democratic Caucus urged the Speaker of the House again to form a special bipartisan committee to look into the potential impeachment of State Superintendent of Public Instruction Ryan Walters.
“Despite our previous request for a special bipartisan committee to examine the State Superintendent, things have gotten worse,” Representative Cyndi Munson said. “Essential employees and cabinet-level officials have quit because of financial mismanagement and lack of information access, taxpayer money may have been spent on campaigning, and Superintendent Walters has promised to tear down the very agencies that support our public schools. Not to mention, over 100 school districts are still waiting for final approval from OSDE on federal program funding, and our schools’ jobs are at risk. This is clearly willful neglect of duty and incompetency – both reasons for impeachment. The time to act is now.”
On August 29, the House Democratic Caucus sent a letter asking the Speaker to create a special bipartisan House committee to determine if there are enough grounds for the House of Representatives to use its constitutional power to impeach State Superintendent of Public Instruction, Ryan Walters. The request was rejected, so the Superintendent has been enabled and encouraged to keep defunding and destroying our public education system because he knows he won’t face any consequences.
“Where did all these dollars go? The total absence of transparency is persistent and alarming,” Representative Melissa Provenzano said. “As a former school administrator, I know that the public deserves every taxpayer dollar to be accounted for when it comes to our public schools. Next session I will introduce legislation to require the State Department of Education to submit quarterly reports to the legislature showing all spending made with state and federal dollars, along with the reasons for those expenditures. We have to act now, though, to investigate the possible breaches made by State Superintendent Walters. The longer we delay, the worse it gets.